July 14: Reaction to Sedition

july14On 14 July 1798, the last of the four Alien and Sedition Acts was signed by President John Adams.

The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by the Federalists in the US Congress as a result of the French Revolution. The main objective of the acts was to strengthen the government as well as protect it from the threat of anarchy in the time of oppositions.

The four acts were signed over the course of June and July 1798. Known as the most controversial of the four, “An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes Against the United States” which was signed on July 14, made it illegal to print, write, or even talk about the president in a manner of which he saw disrespectful. Unfortunately, in a time when Americas national security was thought to of been at risk, even the most brash ideas were seen as brutally necessary. In 1801, the Sedition Act was set to expire. Before the expiration “Eighteen people were indicted under the Sedition Act of 1798; 14 were prosecuted, and 10 convicted, some of whom received prison sentences.”
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Then, more than 100 years later, with the United States declaration of war with Germany, a new sedition act arose. This act was put into place by the state of Montana with the purpose of silencing both antiwar and radical union voices that had caused the state much turmoil after the US’s entry into World War I. With the help of Montanan senators, this act became the outline for the federal Sedition Law of May 1918. Due to the harshness impended on the civil liberties of Americans during that time, the federal Sedition Law led to the arrests of 1,500 American. As WWI ended, so did the Sedition Law of 1918. Since then, there have been no more additions to the history of the Sedition Acts. To this day American’s freedoms of speech only continue to prosper.

–Emily C. Davis

Photo Caption: Asher Brown Durand’s portrait of John Adams.

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